Liturgy Pacific is the on-line presence of Richard Geoffrey Leggett, Rector of Saint Faith's Anglican Church in Vancouver and Professor Emeritus of Liturgical Studies at Vancouver School of Theology. Here you will find sermons, comments on current Anglican and Lutheran affairs and reflections on the need for progressive orthodox Christians to re-claim our place on the theological stage.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

The Courtesy of Ignorance

As I was driving home from the first session of Diaconal Studies Seminar 102 'From Text to Sermon: An Introduction to Biblical Exegesis', I listened to an interview with the American author, Wendell Berry, on CBC One's programme 'Ideas'. I was struck by his phrase, 'the courtesy of ignorance'. When one acknowledges ignorance, one exercises a form of humility, a key dimension of courtesy.

During tonight's session we explored briefly the topic of textual criticism, the effort to discover, as best as one is able, the 'best' text of a given scriptural passage. Berry's remarks put the evening's exercise in perspective. When one engages the search for the 'best' text, a 'courtesy of ignorance' is a desirable characteristic to be found in the one who seeks.

Because we are seeking to understand the divine mystery, humility is a primary quality. We will not 'know'; we will only approach the mystery. This humility does not mean we should remain silent, but it does mean we should hold the provisionality of our understanding.

No comments:

About Me

Richard is a presbyter of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster with a number of responsibilities. He is Rector of Saint Faith's Anglican Church in Vancouver. Richard is also the Principal Consultant for Liturgy Pacific, a worship consultancy providing educational seminars and resources for congregational life and ministry. After 23 years as a member of the faculty of Vancouver School of Theology, Dr Leggett became Professor Emeritus of Liturgical Studies in 2010. Since 1989 Dr Leggett has served on various national committees of the Anglican and Evangelical Lutheran churches in Canada and is a regular participant in the work of the International Anglican Liturgical Consultation. From 2010 to 2016 he was a Member of the Liturgy Task Force of the Anglican Church of Canada.